Swanage 80078

I certainly wouldn't say a thorn in the side, that makes it sound as though there is some animosity in the fact.

Incidentally, back in the early days of the SR, a fund was started and a reservation placed on 34105. Several working parties took place at Barry by the SR group, however for various reasons the loco ended up being purchased by the group based in the MHR instead. The SR then concentrated its initial efforts at Barry on the other loco reserved at the same time...80078!

 

I wouldn't say 34072 is the flagship of the Swanage Railway anymore. Sure it provided excellent service when the railway was close to being down and out, but 34070 is around now, would 34072 reappearance be really that special anymore? 34070 has a fantastic following and is a great attraction to the Swanage Railway and a suburb advert for SLL. Would 34072 get the same attention now?
I would say that 30053 is the flagship now. It least it actually ran down the branch in BR days.

Again these are personal views and not of the Swanage Railway.

 

SLL are doing a share issue with the following quote.... "those who wish to see 257 Squadron and 80078 in operation again on the Swanage Railway should not hesitate to send in a new share application"...

Also .."
As mentioned before, these missives seem to find their way to the Railway press – we would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Railway Magazine for making a very balanced and non-sensationalised assessment of the then situation in their excellent publication, unlike another periodical which published extracts from our original email despite being specifically asked not to, as many of our differences with the railway had already been solved. This was extremely irritating, totally unhelpful to the overall situation, but sadly extremely predictable"...


I presume they are referring to SR?

 

I'd say they are referring to that particular publication, yes. The email in question in fact started off by saying that it may be a premature appraisal of the discussions between the two parties, and also considered the potential attention from the railway press. At the end of the day, my interpretation of the situation as a shareholder was that the imminent over-supply of SLL locomotives on the Swanage Railway has resulted in different opinions as how to best move forwards, particularly as several of these locomotives are on the large side and may not be used by the railway immediately.

However on the bright side, this is an enviable position to be in when all things are considered, and it does mean that every few years, the Swanage Railway can boast a shiny new Bulleid to supplement its fleet, particularly if we reach a stage where we have two in service, one under overhaul and two awaiting overhaul. In this respect, I feel it is only natural that SLL should look for neutral ground to store and restore the locomotives, thus ensuring that the limited siding space on the Swanage Railway is not cluttered up with out-of-ticket SLL locomotives; it seems sensible to me before SLL completely out-grows the limited capacity at Herston Works (once again, please tell me off if I'm wrong in my interpretations, or giving SLL a bad name with this post, nickt!).

Once again, I must stress that the above appraisal of the situation is my own based upon the facts given to me as a shareholder with SLL, and is not a reflection on the official policy of Southern Locomotives Ltd., or the Swanage Railway (which I cannot speak for in any case).

I think it is now best to move on and let the discussions continue towards a positive and mutually-beneficial outcome.

 

Looking ahead to the medium/longer term, does the Swanage Railway have any plans or aspirations to provide a rail link into Herston Works, which I believe it currently leases and then "lets" to SLL to use and manage ? Or maybe there are other alternative plans for expanding the steam (and/or diesel) overhaul and maintenance facilities on the line in the longer term ? It appears to me that the existing facilities at Swanage are somewhat cramped and overstretched with the ongoing success of the line.

David

 

David, There have been/were plans for a rail link into Herston works, which was not without difficulty in terms of land etc etc but I cannot recall any recent updates that I can remember. Any info I would also appreciate DH

 

The Swanage Railway has been stifled by its location. It is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty, occupying a thin corridor of land which snakes through isolated farm land, common land and meadows, to small but popular villages.
It is a victim of its own success. Remember Dorset is seen as a affluent area and therefore we have always had trouble securing grants. Swanage is one of the few heritage railways to have never received any lottery or major development funding aside from the £3,000,000 for the signalling upgrades from local government.
The reality is that we are now ranked in the top 4 heritage railways in the country and we are already beating 2010 passenger and revenue incomes, but we remain woefully in the dark ages with regards to facilities. 5 working engines essentially get maintained out of a single road, one loco engine shed and a 20 foot shipping container.
We are blessed with Herston Works and that is a great facility which we are very proud of. Great things have appeared in the car park over the years, but will rails appear? Its a difficult one to answer, will it always be in isolation? There are no direct plans for it to be rail connected as far as i'm aware
HOWEVER....thats not to say it will stay like that. There is a growing desire to grow our engineering facilities and to improve our volunteer and paid staff working conditions. Talks are taking place all the time about how we can develop the railway into one that can be almost self sufficient on the engineering side but also provide itself with facilities that will secure its future by giving the staff on the ground a respectable working environment.

I would say to all looking in, that Swanage is a place where development is just around the corner and it certainly seems an exciting place to me!

 

I do wish Swanage every success. I know we're going slightly OT, but is the Wytch Farm proposal for an Engineering base still feasible? There were concerns about whether it would be permitted.

 

Given that there is no other land availible to build it has to be the only option unless SLL relocate elsewhere but where,
one option might be that now that locos can be towed in light steam might be a tie in with bruce knight at Eastleigh where they have the facilities to repair locos plus being as the conection at worgret jtn seems to see more use now movement costs might be less especially if they have a mainline reg 33 on site to act as haulage unit

 

Swanage DOES have a mainline registered 33.......33012

 

Now that would be a novel turn around..... both the Swanage and Mid Hants overhauling Bullieds in Eastleigh works...Just need the Bluebell to finish their extension, JB to move his locos in and ......................................................

 

There is land "available" but its getting the planning permission etc thats proving difficult...

 

Suitable land is indeed available but its location is its problem. Thats not to say it couldn't be solved.

 

I think there is more chance of hell freezing over, than the latter part of that hopeful statement.

 

No way will any of JB's locos move to anywhere that could see shared workspace with MHR staff , it just wouldnt work and would not be fair to the people involved unless it was declaired that both parties had made up etc, which is very unlikily

what could happen though is that SLL could work along side the MHR outstation on their own projects and there could be some cross over of knowledge skills etc , but given what was found on 850, i would expect that the MHR boys would be very concerned to do things to their own standards on their own engine dispite how things might be done elsewhere .

but i wonder, if this did happen,both SLL and MHR sharing a site could we see convoys of engines swopping between the railways for instance Swanage appearing at a Swanage gala,after attension at eastleigh and Manstone appearing at alton for an MHR gala, it would certainly make things interesting not to mension a schools class / LN combo in exchange for the m7 and an 80000 tank for a couple of weeks

 

Well the ELS guys are working at the MHR on their S15 so presumably there has been a harmonisation of standards to some extent. As for SLL, I've heard nothing but praise for 34070, even from some tough critics. Same wasn't true for the MHR-maintained 34007 - Yes, I know it was restord elsewhere, but it has been on the MHR for some time now

 

And was a bloody good loco when first restored. Ask the WSR guys who experienced it to compare when first restored to when it made a second visit; no comparison.

 

And why would SSL want to do that when they have access to Herston Works with all the facilities etc... and that SLL and Swanage are working to an agreement with regards to Herston Works.

I wont be holding my breath on that one...

 

You also have to include the day to day maintainence on Manston...which is a credit to the Swanage staff...as well as credit to SLL in the restoration...

No comment on 34007...

 

From what they told me, the NYMR staff who examined 34070 were full of praise for its condition but shocked at what they found when they examined 34007, which is why it didn't attend the Autumn gala.